Karl Golden - MUSIC EDUCATION

Karl Golden, a reputable music educator and accomplished author of "The Ultimate Guitar Books", hails from London, UK. He boasts a wealth of experience as a musician, having performed in various original, function, and cover bands and as a solo artist, and has graced many a stage throughout his career. In recent years, Karl has made a name for himself as a successful content creator on YouTube, amassing over 260,000 subscribers and nearly 60 million views on his video content, and collaborating with esteemed brands such as Ernie Ball, Music Man, SE Electronics, Fender, Shergold Guitars, Faith Guitars, BandZoogle, Distrokid, and more.

From 2004 to 2008, Karl received formal education in Contemporary Popular Music at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, where he earned a Higher Diploma and Degree. He received instruction from esteemed musicians such as Jamie Humphries, Giorgio Serci, Pete Friesen, and Dave Kilminster, and being in the company of so many talented musicians inspired him to develop his own unique style of playing, both in the studio and in live performances.

In 2007, Karl joined his first original rock band, Zalinski, and with them, he performed at notable venues in London such as The O2 Academy in Islington, Nambucca, The Purple Turtle, Proud, and The Barfly in Camden. In 2010, the band supported Pete Doherty at The Rhythm Factory. Karl also took part in the recording and production of Zalinski's debut EP "Actions, Reactions & Misunderstandings," which was released worldwide on CD and through digital distribution platforms such as iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. The band's music received positive reviews from various music publications.

Zalinski's music reviews include: 

"positively original...will blow you away" Music-Zine 

"Gorgeous indie guitar tones"  Total Guitar 

"...seriously brilliant songs " www.toxicpete.co.uk 

"...a mind absorbing soundscape" Roomthirteen.com 

"...takes traditional rock on a little adventure" Rock 'n' Reel  

"emotionally charged" www.glasswerk.co.uk 

"Quite simply fantastic" Alternative Vision Magazine 

"artful, funk - rock" NME 

In 2009, Karl performed session work for Bluey Robinson on BBC Radio One, playing electric guitar on his debut single "I Know" and an acoustic version on ITN music. He also performed with Bluey in London and Paris.

Despite his success in music, Karl found it challenging to make a living from it. In early 2012, he decided to take a full-time job in the film industry and use his free time to create musical content on YouTube, believing that this could be a new way of reaching out to people and sharing his music. The success of other musicians on YouTube, such as Rob Chapman and Elías Barreda, served as inspiration.

Karl's first self-produced solo single, "You're So Complicated," was released in 2012 and featured the young and talented singer Lui Matthews. He also released a music video for the track, directed by Dominic Rossetti and Tamrone Sellwood of Eternal Media Productions. In 2015, Karl released his debut album, "Living On A Knife Edge," which featured Lui Matthews as the vocalist. He self-produced and funded the album and, with the help of his large online following, it was a great success.

All this hard work paid off in 2016 when his video '100 Riffs Goes Ukulele' reached over 1 million views and in the same year he reached 100,000 subscribers. To date he has achieved over 50 million views on over 700 videos, and counting. 

In 2017 Karl built 'Golden Studios', his own personal recording studio where he is now able to write, film and record music freely (and not piss off his wife). In late 2017, with the gradual success of his YouTube channel, he made the decision to focus on this full time and follow his dream of working on music full time. 

In 2018 Karl reached over 200,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and over 40 million views on his video content. With his continued success he has become an artist for lots of major companies such as Ernie Ball, Faith Guitars, SE Electronics, Focusrite and Shergold Guitars. 

In 2020 Karl became an author writing and releasing his first four books in 'The Ultimate Book Series', focusing on guitar and ukulele education. In 2021 he released three more books, The Ultimate Guitar Sweep Picking Book, The Ultimate Bass Scales Book and The Ultimate Bass Chord & Arpeggios Book. Stay tuned for more!

• Playing guitar on BBC Radio 1 with Bluey Robinson 

• Playing guitar on ITN Music with Bluey Robinson

• Reached regional final of Surface Unsigned with band Zalinski

• Reached final of Jar Music Breakout festival with band Zalinski

• Supported Pete Doherty with Zalinski 

• Reached finals of MTV Gaymers Camden Crawl with Zalinski 

• Received a YouTube silver play button plaque award for gaining over 100,000 subscribers

• Reached over 50 millions views on all my YouTube content 

• Reached over 250,000 Subscribers on YouTube

• Guitar Demonstrator Ernie Ball Booth (Guitar Shows)

• Ernie Ball Artist

• Faith Guitars Artist

• Shergold Guitars Artist

• SE Electronics Artist

• Self built home studio (Golden Studios)

• Published The Ultimate Guitar Series Trilogy Books

• Published The Ultimate Bass Series Books

• Released The Ultimate Guitar Scales Course

• Released debut solo artist album 'Living On A Knife Edge' ft. Lui Matthews